Feds: Vaccine may have killed medic

November 20, 2003

LYNWOOD — Vaccinations may have caused the death of an Army medic by triggering a flare-up in a disease she was unaware she had, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Two study panels found no evidence that the military screening program could have prevented the death of 22-year-old Army reservist Spc. Rachael Lacy, though officials will review the practice of giving simultaneous vaccinations, the Defense Department said.

Lacy, of suburban Lynwood, received vaccinations for anthrax, smallpox, typhoid, hepatitis B and measles-mumps-rubella on March 2 at Ft. McCoy, Wis., as she mobilized for active duty overseas.

Lacy died a month later with symptoms like those found in patients with lupus, an autoimmune disease, the Pentagon said in a statement.